Motor-plow.



N0.7a1,z14. PATENTED JAN.31, 1905. s. E. KURTZ.

MOTOR PLOW. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 9, 1902.

v A TTORNE Ys" UNITED STATES Patented January 31, 1905.

PATENT OEEIcE.

SAMUEL E. KURTZ, OF SAC CITY, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ALBERT E. COOK, OF ODEBOLT, IOWA. A

MOTOR-PLOW.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 781,214, dated January 31, 1905.

Application filed September 9,1902. Serial No. 122,700.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, SAMUEL E. KURTZ, a citiy zen of the United States, and a resident of Sac City, in the county of Sac and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Motor-Flows, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a motor-plow; and one of the objects that I have in view is the provision of a self-contained agricultural imy plement in which the motor mechanism is -so combined with the plowing or soil-stirring devices that the machine is capable of propelling itself and digging the soil at one and the same operation, these ends being secured without the use of traction-wheels or other motordriven devices that are liable to slip on the ground and fail to secure the draft necessary to make the gang of plowing devices operate in the soil.

The machine is also equipped with steering means whereby its course may be changed as found necessary, although the motor-driven plowing devices are disposedv in such peculiar relation to each other that they counteract the side draft which each plowing device if used singly would exert on the machine to the end that said plowing devices tend to makethe machine pursue a straight course.

`I/Vith these endsin view the invention conv sists in the novel combination and Aconstruction of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed. v Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference ind-icate corresponding parts in all the figures.'

Figure 1 is aside elevation of a motor-plow embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof, and Fig. 3 is a top plan view -of the machine.

5 designates a suitable supporting-frame adapted to support the motor and various As shown by Fig. 3, this frame is provided with the forwardly-diverging members 5a and the platform 5b; but the detailed construction of the frame may be varied within wide limits. On the platform 5b of the frame is mounted a moing a high horse-power in proportion to the weight and size, and the fuel can be readily transported by the machine without involving substantial increase in the size ofthe apparatus. The motor or engine 6 is equipped with a suitable shaft 7, adapted to carry sprocket-gears 8 9. The diverging members 5a of thel framework are joined by a transverse bar 5", and on this frame are erected suitable standards 11, which are provided with suitable bearings adapted to receive the counter-shafts 12 13 of the machine. These counter-shafts are provided with sprocket-gears 14:, disposed in alinement with the sprocket-gears 8 9 on the motor-shaft, and the pairs of Aalined sprocket-wheels are operatively connected by the endless sprocket-chains 15, whereby the energy of the motor-shaft is transmitted to the separate counter-shafts by independent trains of gearing. These counter-shafts are also provided with sprocket-wheels 16, which are smaller than the sprocket-gears 14, and these small sprocket-gears drive the sprocketchains 17 individually, the latter serving to propel ythe plowing-cylinders 18 19.

Each plowing-cylinder may be of any preferred construction-such, for example, as a vided with a small sprocket-gear 20, which is arranged in alinement vertically with one of the sprocket-wheels 16 on one of the countershafts, and the alined sprocket-wheels 16 20 are connected by the chains 17, wherebylthe counter-shafts are geared individually tothe plowing-cylinders. These plowing-cylinders are disposed below the frame 5 and connected therewith or suspended therefrom by any suitable means, and said plowing-cylinders are combined with a caster-wheel, to be hereinafter described, so as to support the framework and all its contained parts, Ithereby dispensing with traction-wheels or other means adapted to engage with the ground for the propulsion of the implement.

One of the important features of my invention consists in the arrangement of each plowing-cylinder in a position wherein its longitudinal axis is oblique to the line of travel of theimplement. By reference to the drawings it will be seen that the plowing-cylinder 18 is inclined in one direction half-way across the machine, while the other plowing-cylinder, 19, is inclined in an opposite direction across the remaining half of the machine, the angle of inclination of each plowing-cylinder being equal to that of the other plowing-cylinder. rlhe employment of a single plowing-cylinder` arranged in a diagonal or oblique position and driven by a motor superposed upon the frame would have a tendency to make the machine travel sidewise because of the engagement of the disks with the soil; but by the employment of plowing-cylinders arranged in reversely-inclined positions this sidewise tendency of the machine is obviated, because the oblique disks of one cylinder counteract the side draft exerted on the machine by the similar disks of the other cylinder. The diagonal arrangement of the two cylinders inclined reversely and equally to each other makes the machine travel in practically a straight path when driven by the superposed motor on the framework, and this novel disposition of the parts enables me to materially simplify the machine and increase its efciency, because the plowing-cylinders themselves serve as a means for propelling the machine over the ground, thereby dispensing with tractionwheels and other similar devices, which have to my knowledge been heretofore employed to effect the propulsion of the machine.

21 designates a caster-wheel arranged at the rear middle portion of the machine, said casterwheel being journaled in the fork 22 of a steering-spindle 23, having a suitable handle 24C. Said spindle is journaled in a suitable bearing kat the rear end of the frame 5, and the handle of this spindle is within convenient reach of an operator adapted to occupy the seat 25, the latter being carried by a standard 26, attached to the rear end of the machine-frame. The caster-wheel trails in rear of the plowingcylinders, and said caster-wheel and the cylinders coperate in supporting the frame and its contained parts and in maintaining the machine in a level condition.

rllhe sprocket-wheels 16 on the counter-sh afts may be adjusted into and out of xed engagement therewith by means of suitable clutches, and the plowing-cylinders 18 19 may be combined with means for changing the positions thereof with relation to the machine-frame and the line of draft. The sprocket-wheels 16 are loosely litted on the counter-shafts 12 13, and they are adapted to be made fast with said shafts by clutches 34 of any suitable construction, each clutch being controlled or adjusted by a lever 35, the latter being fulcrumed on a short post 35J and having its handle end disposed within convenient reach of the operator on the seat 25.

The plowing-cylinders 18 19 are preferably attached to the frame by vertical pivotal connections which permit said cylinders to swing in a horizontal plane, and these cylinders are adapted to be adjusted simultaneously by a lever 36, also disposed in convenient reach of the operator on the seat 25, whereby the cylinders may be shifted to the oppositely-inclined positions shown by the drawings, or they may be brought into alinement with each other. The lever 36 is disposed in a vertical position, and to the lower part thereof is pivoted a link 37, the lower front end of which slides in a suspended guide 38. (See Fig. 1.) rlhis link is connected operatively by a slide 39, with the links L1() disposed in diverging relation, as shown by Fig. 3, and said links are pivoted to the pivotal supports of the plowing-cylinders individually, thus making provision for adjusting said cylinders.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1, A motor-driven agricultural machine, comprising gang-frames inclined to the line of travel and reversely arranged with relation to one another, driven shafts journaled in the respective gang-frames and arranged for their longitudinal axes to lie in planes inclined equally and reversely to the line of travel, gangs of plowing and propelling members mounted on the respective shafts, the oblique members of one gang being reversely dispo'sed to the members of the other gang, a main frame supported by the gang-frames and the gangs of members, a motor on said main frame, and counter-shafts driven by the motor and geared to the gang-shafts for driving the reversely-arranged members of the gangs positively and at uniform speeds.

2. A motor-driven agricultural machine, comprising a main frame, gang-frames disposed on opposite sides of the median line of said main frame, driven shafts journaled in the respective gang-frames and arranged for their longitudinal axes to lie in planes inclined equally and reversely to the line of travel, gangs of oblique plowing and propelling members carried by the respective dri ven shafts,the members of one gang being reversely arranged to those of the other gang, all of said members being inclined to the line of travel, a motor on the main frame, and driving devices actuated lIO by the motor and operatively related to the driven shafts for propelling the two gangs of bers carried by the respective driven shafts,

the members of one gang being inclined reversely to the `members of the other gang, all of said members being inclined to the lineof travel, a motor on said main frame, and independent trains of driving devices actuated by the motor and operatively connected to the driven shafts for propelling the gangs ofmembers simultaneously and at the same speed.

A 4. A motor-driven agricultural machine, comprising a main frame, gang-frames suspended therefrom, driven shafts journaledin gang-frames disposed'on opposite sides of the' median line of the main frame, and arranged for their longitudinal axes to lie in planes inclined reversely and equally to the line of travel, gangs of oblique plowing and propelling members carried by the driven shafts, the members of one gang being reversely arranged to the members of the other gang, a trailing wheel having a spindle mounted in the rear part of the main frame, said wheel cooperating with the gangs of members for wholly supporting the main frame, a motor on said. frame, and trains of gearing actuatedy by the motor and operatively connected with the driven shafts.

In an agricultural machine, means for plowing the ground and propelling the machine, comprising reVersely-inclined gangs of perpendicular disks, each set obliquely to the line of travel, and a motor supported by the machine and geared to the gang of disks for rotating them at equal speed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the vpresence of two subscribing witnesses.

. SAMUEL E. KURTZ. Witnesses:

W. I-I. HART, i J. H. STALFORD. 

